By Linda Copman
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| Photo: Summit of Mauna Kea. Photo by Diane
Repp. |
The Visitor Information
Station (VIS) at the 9,200-foot elevation of Mauna Kea
was established in the late 1980’s. Operation of the VIS is
funded by the tenant observatories on Mauna Kea. Over 100,000
people make the trek up the mountain to the VIS each year,
and this number is steadily rising. The VIS operates from 9:00
a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily, 365 days a year.
Mauna Kea Rangers staff the VIS and provide a variety of services
to visitors, from sales of astronomical memorabilia to warning
visitors about dangers posed by the high altitude. They share
stories of “invisible” cows which sometimes appear mysteriously
out of the fog in the middle of the roadway and of the numerous
cultural and historic sites, including Lake Wai‘au, located
at the 13,007-foot elevation, known in native Hawaiian traditions
as the umbilicus or piko which connects the Hawaiian Islands
to the heavens. Visitors to the summit area are encouraged
to spend at least 30 minutes acclimatizing at the VIS, to allow
their bodies to adjust to the higher elevation, before proceeding
up the road to the summit area. And they are reminded to respect
this sacred site by leaving the mountain in as pristine a condition
as they found it.
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| Photo: Cinder cones at the summit of Mauna
Kea. Many of these features are wahi pana, or
famed and storied places. Photo by Rick Peterson. |
To proceed beyond the VIS, visitors should have a four-wheel
drive vehicle, since the unpaved road which ascends the final
5,000 feet to the summit has grades of up to 15 percent and
can be icy and treacherous. The atmosphere at the summit has
only 60 percent of the oxygen found at sea level, and only
about 10 percent of the moisture. The average temperature is
about 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The human body reacts with varying
degrees of severity to the high altitude, with symptoms ranging
anywhere from dehydration, to short-term memory loss, to severe
headaches and fainting. Children under the age of 16, pregnant
women, and individuals with head colds or cardio-pulmonary
disease are strongly advised not to visit the summit beyond
the VIS, because of the very real health risks involved. In
the early days, explains Keck Observatory’s Summit Day Operations
Lead Bill Bates, visiting astronomers worked at the summit
facility, at 13,600 feet. They invariably suffered from short-term
memory loss, and Bates recalls that many of the astronomers
were frustrated by the fact that their normally razor-sharp
intellects were simply not up to par in this high-altitude
environment. Today, most of Keck’s visiting astronomers engage
in remote observations through fiber optics and video-conferencing
links from headquarters to the summit.
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| Photo: The Keck Observatory domes house
the Keck I and Keck II telescopes. Photo by Rick Peterson. |
For information about visiting the summit of Mauna Kea and
the W. M. Keck Observatory, please visit
our website. 
Click here to return to the main page. |
